Leading figures in the anti-2020 Tokyo Olympics protest movement have launched a lawsuit seeking ¥3.5 million from the Japan Sport Council, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the state over the forced eviction of homeless people from Meiji Park in April 2016 … Continue reading →

Yōji Sakate’s Blind Touch, the play inspired by the real-life story of Fumiaki and Akiko Hoshino, will be revived in a production directed by the author at The Suzunari, a leading fringe theatre in Shimokitazawa, from 19 March to 1 … Continue reading →

There has been an interesting and surprising development in the lawsuit that veteran student leftist group Zengakuren has brought against officers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. As previously reported, Zengakuren launched the lawsuit in late 2016 after activists were … Continue reading →

When Kyoto University announced on 19 December 2017 that the famously ramshackle Yoshida Dormitory could no longer accept tenants and that current occupants must vacate the facility by the end of September 2018, it raised many eyebrows among nostalgists who … Continue reading →

Activists opposed to the emperor system in Japan have launched a petition calling for the abolition of regnal years (in Japanese, gengō or nengō). Japan uses two systems to indicate the year: the Gregorian calendar and an era name system … Continue reading →